


moral of the story

by likewinning



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Comment Fic, M/M, pumpkin spice is not a season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 07:29:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2573234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likewinning/pseuds/likewinning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moral of the story: I'm going to stab everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	moral of the story

**Author's Note:**

> Written for comment_fic. Takes place in the same universe as [this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2255835)

"Did you have a good Thanksgiving?" Bucky asks. He assumes Jason went home for the holiday, since he hasn't been around in a few days – Bucky isn't entirely ashamed to say he checked with the people who worked other shifts. ("No," Natasha snapped at him, after he asked her a third day in a row. "I haven't seen your creepy stalker serial killer boyfriend, okay?")

(Bucky's pretty sure Jason's not a serial killer. Just because he comes in at all hours and sometimes has bloody knuckles and _maybe_ reacts strongly to loud noises sometimes doesn't mean he's a serial killer.)

"Uh," Jason says. Natasha comes over, hands him his drink and walks off muttering something that sounds distinctly like _just get his number already, jesus_. "If by good, you mean I nearly got in a fight with everyone I know, then sure, yeah, it was good."

There aren't any customers, so Bucky feels justified chatting with him. "What happened?"

Jason shrugs. "I don't, uh, go home a lot, you know? My family and I are kind of…" He trails off. "You really don't want to hear this, right?"

Bucky sort of desperately does. Jason never talks about himself, really. He just shows up, sometimes with a bruised cheek and a split lip, sometimes with a pile of tattered books, almost always looking like he's gotten about ten hours of sleep in four days. If Bucky were the type of person to psychoanalyze himself, he would worry about why he finds any of that attractive. He glances behind him. "I'm taking my ten," he says in Nat's direction. "Hold the fort."

"I'll be helpless without you," Natasha says, but Bucky already has his apron off and he's coming behind the counter.

They sit in one of the corner tables, the furthest place they can get from the register without being outside. "So tell me," Bucky says.

Jason shrugs again, but he sips his drink and starts, "Well, my older brother is kind of always on my case to get my act together, you know – he's always trying to help me out, even though…" Jason clears his throat. "I mean, I was gone for years, and none of them cared, and now they want to _fix_ me."

"Where were you –" Bucky starts, but Jason's sort of on a roll. Bucky offers him the muffin he grabbed before coming over, and Jason starts tearing into it. "And then the fucking devil child spends the whole meal casually mentioning how I shouldn't be there at all, and how _he_ could cook a better meal than Alfie, and I'm sitting there the whole time wishing someone had snuck some rat poison into his mashed potatoes or something."

"Wow," Bucky says. "That sounds intense."

"Yeah. I mean, Bruce is on this whole kick of all of us hanging out together, but the only one I even sort of get along with is Tim, and that's just a joke itself."

"So you come from a big family, huh?"

Jason gives him a look. "We're severely overcrowded. Need some herd-thinning, really."

Bucky isn't sure whether to laugh or not, but he does, and it turns out to be the right response because Jason gives him that smile that seems to be just for _him_ , the one that creeps up on his face any time he comes in and Bucky's behind the counter.

"Still," Bucky tries. "It's good to have some family time, right?"

Something flickers in Jason's expression, the same look he gets when they play songs from the '80's, or that weird punk kid with the green hair comes in, but then Jason shakes it off and asks, "Did you not get the moral of my story here? I wanted to stab everyone."

Of course, Natasha walks past to wipe down a table at just that second and catches Bucky's eye. _See?_ her expression says. _Serial killer._

Bucky still has his doubts.


End file.
